Best President of the Gilded Age, and Why?

[Frodo]

The Gilded Age covers the period from 1869 (with the opening of the first transcontinental railroad) to 1896 when the Progressive Era begins.  It was the post-war period when the United States was in the throes of industrialization, when bosses and corporations dominated the political landscape with little opposition.  It also overlaps with the Third Party System that became established somewhat earlier with the birth of the Republican Party.